"No!" --- After being reaped for the 10th annual Hunger Games, you start getting closer to your district partner's mentor, Sejanus Plinth. But Panem has a way of ending things before they've even begun.
Summary: After being reaped for the 10th annual Hunger Games, you start getting closer to your district partner's mentor, Sejanus Plinth. But Panem has a way of ending things before they've even begun.
Author's Note: This is my first oneshot I'm posting here so I hope you enjoy it!
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When they called my name, I didn't realize at first. I looked around, searching for the poor person who would most likely never return to this square. All I saw were countless pairs of eyes looking at me. Someone nudged me forwards and I felt my feet carrying me towards the stage. I couldn't feel anything, only numbness. As I stood on the stage looking down at the place I'd called home my entire life, all I could think of was how I'd never set foot here again, I knew it.
I heard them call the male tribute's name but I couldn't hear it. The only thing I could hear was my heart pumping blood through my veins. My veins that would soon be cut.
The other tribute and I were led off the stage and into a container of a train. It smelled like cow manure and I couldn't help but gag. The door suddenly shut, cloaking me and the other tribute in complete darkness. The floor shifted beneath me as the train abruptly started and I lost my balance, falling roughly on the floor. I hit my left arm at an unfortunate angle and couldn't help the whimper of pain that left me.
"Here," said a gruff voice, and the other tribute helped me sit up.
"Thank you," I replied. My eyes had adjusted a bit to the darkness and I could see the faint outline of a face near me.
"You're welcome," he replied.
"What's your name?" I said shamefully. "I was too shocked to pay attention to anything after I was reaped."
"It's fine. I'm Marcus."
We made small talk for several hours before falling into a comfortable silence.
I began getting hungry and I could hear Marcus' stomach rumble as well. I couldn't wait for us to arrive at the Capitol because at least we would get food there.
Eventually, the train pulled to a halt. It was around a half hour until our compartment doors opened, forcing me to shield my eyes at the sudden brightness. We were told to exit the train and I cautiously stood up and made my way towards the doors. The drop was bigger than I expected and I backed away from the edge.
"I'm scared of heights," I whispered to Marcus.
He leapt off the edge before me and promised to catch me when I jumped. Hesitantly, I did, fear coursing through me. However, he caught me safely in his arms.
"Thanks."
"You're welcome."
We were then shepherded towards a truck in which the back was a plain expanse of metal with bars around it. We were forced in before the train lurched forward. I managed to grab onto one of the bars that served to create our makeshift cage. We made our way into city traffic, continuing the trend of being transported like zoo animals, with people pointing at us like we were attractions.
After several minutes the door of the truck opened and I fell onto concrete, before starting to slide down quickly. I tried to grab onto something, anything to prevent myself from falling, but I was unable and fell into a pile with the other tributes.
I got untangled from the group and looked around at my surroundings only to feel my stomach plummet. We were in a bigger cage, where spectators were staring in at us. Heck, there was even a camera and reporter. I hated this, there was no privacy except for a couple rocks you could hide behind. I leaned against one, wondering when we would be given food.
I had dozed off for a bit and awoke to an orange sunset. It felt wrong that there could be something so beautiful happening in the sky, when ugly things were happening beneath it. I noticed a blonde boy sitting next to the girl with the rainbow dress. They were eating sandwiches and I couldn't prevent the rumbles that my stomach created upon seeing food. I really thought we would have been given some by now. I saw multiple tributes going to someone at the bars and watched what was occurring. I could have cried when I saw that they were walking back with sandwiches. I got up and raced towards the bars, scared the boy handing them out would run out before I could claim one. When I reached him he gave me a sandwich and placed a plum in my hand.
"Thank you," I whispered and ran back to my spot by the rock. I bit into the sandwich and almost moaned. I hadn't eaten for around twelve hours. I then looked to Marcus, noticing he hadn't grabbed food yet.
"It's good, Marcus," I assured him. "You should get a sandwich before he runs out."
"No."
"No?" I was confused. I had heard his stomach earlier, I knew he was hungry. Why was he not getting any food?
The boy handing out sandwiches was looking at Marcus now and pleading with him to take a sandwich but Marcus just turned his back on him. Why did this boy care if Marcus had food? Why wouldn't Marcus just take a sandwich?
"Why aren't you taking one?" I questioned.
"I know him."
"Huh?" Did Marcus hit his head in the train or truck or maybe when we fell? That boy was clearly Capitol.
"His dad is Strabo Plinth."
Immediately, I understood. The Plinths were hated in District Two for siding with the Capitol during the war and then moving there once it was over. They were traitors.
He continued, "I used to go to school with him."
"Oh. Why don't you take half of my sandwich?" I questioned seeing that another tribute had taken the last one.
"I don't want to eat anything his hands touched."
"Ok," I replied, feeling guilty as I continued eating.
The next morning was quite uneventful. My stomach started growling again but I scolded myself for it, knowing Marcus was going through much worse. At around noon, we were escorted back into the truck we arrived on. We were driven to a fancy-looking building and handcuffed before being brought into a large, impressive hall. We were each sat down at a table with two folding chairs and one of our handcuffs was chained to a ring in a block of cement. I hated this. We were being treated as criminals or even worse, wild animals.
I heard a voice from above saying something about completing paperwork. A group of students then came down the staircase and began sitting at the different tables across from the tributes.
"Hello, I'm Florus Friend," stated the boy who sat down across from me. He had strawberry blonde hair and pale skin, but despite his last name, was looking at me in a way that did not feel friendly at all.
"I'll be your mentor."
"What's that mean?" I questioned.
"I'm supposed to help you win the games. Anyway, what's your name?"
I answered his questions, but the more he talked, the less comfortable I felt. After awkwardly thanking him for complimenting my looks, he said how adorable I was, as if I was some pet. He then moved forward to push some of my hair behind my ear.
I tried scooting away at this but the handcuffs wouldn't let me. In retaliation, I refused to answer the rest of his questions. He grew angrier and angrier at my refusal to respond but I continued to ignore him. I looked around, most tributes like me were refusing to talk. The Plinth boy—Sejanus I had overheard Florus call him as they were walking to their seats—was not having any luck either. Marcus was refusing to answer his questions nor eat the meal placed in front of him. Seeing me observe him, Sejanus tried offering the food to me.
"Please take it," he asked practically begging.
I eagerly nodded my head, trying to reach for it but being unable to due to the handcuffs. He got up and placed the plate on my table. I struggled against my chains to lift the fork to my mouth. I sighed at the lovely taste; I couldn't remember the last time I ate something of this quality. It would have had to have been before the war.
After we were escorted back to our cage, nothing else happened. That was until the Capitol boy got some kids to give food to the girl in the rainbow dress and tributes started sitting by the bars, hoping for food to be placed in their outstretched hands.
I wanted to preserve my dignity, but even more, I wanted food. In shame, I sat by the bars with my head down and hands outstretched. A brother and sister gave me half a piece of bread and a half-eaten chicken drumstick. I split the food with Marcus. I was still hungry after the meager meal and wished that maybe Sejanus would come back with more food. I internally scolded myself, I should hate him, not be begging for food from him. But, if anything, he begged me to take the food from him. Who was I kidding? He was the one in power here, not me. Trying to convince myself vice versa was just a delusion.
As if my prayers were answered, I saw Sejanus walking through the crowd with multiple bags. The other tributes flocked towards him, myself included.
"Thank you," I smiled at him before running off with my egg and bread. Marcus still refused to eat anything that a Plinth had touched so the food was all for me. My stomach finally settled and I laid back, trying to take in the beauty of the sunset for as long as I could.
I was interrupted from my solace by screams. Quickly sitting upright, it took me only a few seconds to find a Capitol girl with her neck slit. A tribute was standing on the opposite side of the bars from her and seemed to be desperately eating something. I was standing up to get a closer look at what happened when Marcus roughly pulled me down by my arm and shielded me with his body from the bullets.
When the gunshots stopped, Marcus got off of me and I realized I had peed myself in fear. What was happening? I couldn't help the tears spilling from my eyes as my breaths started to get more and more rapid. I managed to get up on my legs and had to grab the bars behind me to prevent myself from falling. I had to get out. I tried shoving myself through the bars to no avail: there wasn't enough space between them. Sobbing, I fell to my knees, only to be harshly lifted up by a Peacekeeper. He and his colleagues lined us against the bars of the cage and took turns of searching us for weapons. When it was my turn, as I was still hyperventilating, one of the Peacekeepers slapped me across the face. I fell back into the bars, moaning in pain, as he searched me for weapons. I had never been searched before so I couldn't ascertain for sure, but I felt that the soldier was far too touchy. His hands lingered on my thighs and chest far too long. I felt strangely naked in the thin material of my light blue dress. When the search was over, we were put in handcuffs before being allowed to go back to our makeshift beds where I quickly fell into a nightmare-ridden sleep.
The next day, we were woken up by peacekeepers and given a bit of rotten fruit before being dragged onto a slate of metal with metal rings for our handcuffs to be attached to. The truck had a crane on the front of it and to my horror it grabbed the girl who was killed and dangled her above us. We sat there for hours, the scorching sun causing the metal to burn my skin and the corpse to smell absolutely horrible. The truck then started moving and to my horror I realized we were in a parade, one where all the Capitol citizens would see us.
After it had finished, we were driven to the outside of some sort of arena. Our handcuffs were taken off the truck, but were still kept around our hands. At this point, I was sure I had multiple cuts from the constant irritation of the metal digging into my wrists. We were lined up in order of district and forced to wait in the hot rays of the sun for a quarter of an hour.
Our mentors finally arrived and stood by their tribute. The Friend guy stood next to me, but I hardened my resolve of avoiding him by standing straight up and looking ahead. I could tell he was annoyed by this but I kept my act up.
We were marched into the circular building and brought forth to turnstiles in which peacekeepers inserted tokens to get us through. We walked into a long, dark passageway and as the light disappeared, I felt a hand slip under my dress. I tried squirming out of my mentor's grasp but to no avail.
"Please, stop," I whispered in his direction into the dark, only to feel his lips on my ear.
"No can do, darling."
I felt a shiver go down my spine and before I could think my actions through, I kicked him in the calf, causing him to fall down.
"You bitch!" he yelled as he got to his feet and I regretted my actions knowing no one would care if the tribute girl got abused. In fact, he would probably spin the story and blame me for trying to seduce him.
"Hey!" shouted the boy behind me, "don't call her that!"
"Sorry, Sejanus," replied the boy in a sarcastic tone, "I forgot you were district scum yourself."
I was surprised that Sejanus had stood up for me. He was a known traitor, yet he'd given us tributes food and just defended me. I didn't know what to make of him but supposed it wouldn't matter as soon I'd be dead.
We walked out of the tunnel, and sunlight streamed down on my face. We were in a giant field. The walls separating the field and stands were crumbling and the dirt was dried up. There were several craters in the Earth, most likely from bombs. We had our fair share of those during the war.
We started walking around the edge of the field. I could hear Sejanus attempting a conversation with Marcus but failing miserably. My mentor didn't even try to talk to me, although for that I was grateful. We were near the front of the procession, and soon District One and Two were far ahead of the other Districts. I was eavesdropping upon the conversation between the District One tributes when the world exploded.
I was knocked off my feet and onto the ground. I could feel a body cover my own but I couldn't tell whose it was, although it was most likely Marcus'. I heard yelling around me but all I could try and focus on was my breathing; I needed to keep it steady.
I heard my name being yelled but couldn't figure out from which direction or from whom. There was shouting and screams from all around as I heard more bombs blow up. Dust started blurring my vision and wracked my body with coughs. I heard my name being yelled again but I struggled to see who shouted it due to the dust blinding me. The person on top of me rolled off, and helped me to my feet. At this point, I had squeezed my eyes shut to avoid more debris flying in and was too fearful to open them. The person put their arm around my waist but as I stepped forward, a burst of pain shot up my leg and I cried out as I fell down. Luckily, the person next to me caught me and gently took me in their arms so I wouldn't have to walk more. After a minute, I was gently laid down on the ground. Risking more dirt getting in my eyes, I opened them to see Sejanus looking down at me, concerned.
"Are you okay?" He asked in a soft voice, his kind eyes filled with worry.
"M-my ankle," I coughed, the dust still stuck in my lungs. He gently took my foot and placed it in his lap, looking at my ankle.
"Can I?" He asked, gesturing at it. I nodded and he gently probed it, causing me to flinch and hiss in pain. "Sorry," he said before cautiously moving it side to side. "I think you sprained it," he stated, causing me to burst into tears.
"How am I su-supposed to win the games if I can't run?" I sobbed.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
"It's not your fault," I said, wiping my tears away. "Thanks for getting me out of there."
"You're welcome," he said with a small, sad smile. At that moment a group of Peacekeepers arrived. One of them grabbed me harshly, lifting me to my feet, but I collapsed once more, again being caught by Sejanus. "She has a sprained ankle, she can't walk," he explained to the Peacekeepers. One of them rolled their eyes at him and pulled me back to my feet and dragged me behind him. I quickly lost my footing and fell once more.
"Clumsy bitch," one of the Peacekeepers mumbled before throwing me over their shoulder. I was brought back to the truck we were brought here on and my handcuffs were attached to a metal ring. More tributes were brought, many injured, many worse than me. They then started the truck without Marcus, causing me to aggressively shout at them, telling them that he was still in there and how dare they leave him to die. No one listened to me and the truck kept moving. About halfway through the ride, I gave up screaming, partly due to the fact that they weren't going to listen to me and partially because my voice was almost gone. Marcus would die all alone and the thought caused me to sob.
We were brought back to our cage and dumped unceremoniously on the ground. I crawled to where Marcus and I had our little area, and laid down on my hay, refusing to use his as it would have felt wrong. How was I going to survive without Marcus? I wasn't strong, I was underfed and weak; I couldn't win these games without him by my side. This caused me to fall into another fit of sobs and I cried myself to sleep.
I was woken up by a doctor, well I thought she was a doctor until she told me she was a veterinarian. I bit my lip to stop myself from screaming out profanities at the Capitol who apparently thought human doctors were too good for us. She diagnosed me with a sprained ankle and wrapped it with an elastic bandage. She then gave me ice for it and told me to try and rest. I wanted to laugh at the idiocy, I wouldn't be able to rest due to having to run for my life in the arena. She then left me to go treat some other tributes. In the grand scheme of things, I should be glad that I hadn't received the brunt of the blast. Marcus still hadn't come back and I was extremely worried he had died in the arena.
Overnight, the two tributes from nine passed away and that morning I overheard the Peacekeepers talking about Marcus, apparently he had escaped. I hoped he would make it out, I couldn't imagine the horrors the Capitol would pour upon him if they found him.
After a few days, we were brought back to meet our mentors again. It felt strange not having Marcus sitting next to me and without Sejanus' food that he had provided me last time, my stomach was left to growl uncontrollably as the Friend guy had no food to give me. He spoke to me about participating in an interview, but I had no interest in talking to him and ignored his words. He grew annoyed at me and gave up on trying to converse so we both sat at the table until I was removed from the situation.
On the day of the games, we were brought into the arena in two separate trucks. As we were led into the arena, I noticed that it looked incredibly different from how it did before the bombing. There were multiple openings to what I presumed was a tunnel system underneath the stands. I would need to get in there if I wanted to survive. However, as we were brought to our places, I viewed a terrible image. Hung between two poles was Marcus. He was beaten, bloody, and bruised as well as unable to move. I felt my knees give out under me and I knew he was alive from his sobs of pain. I felt myself being harshly dragged to my spot. I lay on my stomach, unable to tear my eyes away from the scene. I felt bile run up my throat and I was vomiting. I pushed myself up on shaky legs. I had to help him. I started taking uneasy steps toward him, but was dragged back into place by a Peacekeeper. "Marcus!" I screamed as I fought against the Peacekeeper holding me. I managed to escape his grip and tried running to save Marcus only for my ankle to give out, causing me to hit the floor. I was dragged back to my spot, screaming and crying, and this time I stayed there, feeling too sick and weak to get up again.
Then a gong sounded and I forced myself to my feet. I had to get out. I started running towards one of the tunnel entrances only for my ankle to give out once more. I cried in pain and moved forward, crawling as fast as possible. My knees ached but I pushed on, reaching a tunnel entrance and unsteadily pushed myself to my feet. I saw Reaper, the District Eleven tribute, coming towards me. I tried speed-walking and luckily my ankle could handle that. I walked as fast as I could until I finally paused, sure that he wasn't coming after me anymore.
For hours, I stayed unmoving in my part of the tunnels. I heard footsteps nearing me and I stood up cautiously. Two tributes appeared—the ones from Three—and for a few seconds we just stared at each other before they fled further down the tunnels. After the encounter, I decided that I needed to reach a more secluded area of the tunnels and after walking for about ten minutes, found a crack in a wall I was able to squeeze through that led me into a tiny room. I felt pretty safe here, if someone attempted to kill me, they would have to get through the crack which I would be alerted to and could hopefully prepare to defend myself in time. A few more hours drew by before I decided to head to bed. It was an exhausting day and it didn't take me long to pass out.
When I awoke, my stomach was growling loudly. I silently cursed it and realized I needed to get food somehow, if I stayed in place, someone might hear and find my hiding spot. Squeezing myself between the crack in the wall, I made my way through the tunnels until I saw sunlight. I couldn't help but smile and breathe in the fresh air. As I stepped out of the tunnels, I stopped in my tracks. The two tributes from Four were in conversation, heading towards me. The boy looked up, saw me, and suddenly started running towards me. I ran as fast as I could. My ankle was screaming in pain but I had to keep moving through the tunnels. I somehow made a circle and stepped back out into the daylight, only to feel a sharp pain in my stomach. The object was then pulled out of my body and I turned around to see Coral holding a bloody trident. I fell backwards and tried to clutch the wounds to stop the bleeding but all that happened was that my hands were covered in crimson.
I was awoken by screams. I couldn't tell how much time had passed but it was still very dark outside so it still had to be sometime in the night. There were more shouts and then loud laughter and taunts. I couldn't tell what had happened but presumed the strong tributes had just killed someone. They had been talking before the games and I wouldn't be surprised if they teamed up together. I wonder who had died, hopefully someone strong so I'd have less competition. I hated wishing someone dead but I had to forget my morals while I was in this arena. The laughter died down and so I went back to sleep, my dreams filled with dead bodies.
"No..." I said quietly, not believing it. "No!" I screamed for everything I had in me, I couldn't die in here, I couldn't! I didn't want to die in the Capitol's stupid game. "No!" I screamed, sobbing, voice thick with pain and emotion. The male tribute from Four approached me but I was too weak to fight him as he grabbed my chin and slit my throat.
The murder occurred in one of the few parts of the arena that had microphones, causing the tribute's screams to be projected throughout the large auditorium. In his peripheral vision, Coriolanus looked at Sejanus. He was worried that he would have another meltdown, due to the tribute's district. He saw Sejanus' face buried in his hands as he slightly shook. He quickly looked away, hoping no one else would notice the display of emotion that was bound to come back to haunt him due to him being the rebel sympathizer's "best friend."
Lepidus and his crew came up to interview Florus about his tribute's passing. When asked about her, the other students gasped at his cold response of, "All I knew about her is that she was a bitch."
Coriolanus could see Sejanus clench his hands into fists. He quietly left the hall and Coriolanus couldn't help but be grateful that he hadn't caused another scene to reflect back poorly on him.
Felix Nmecha (6')
Nico Schlotterbeck (38')
Kai Havertz (45'+5')
Jamal Musiala (47')
Nathaniel Brown (68')
Deniz Undav (78')
Kai Havertz (88')
Germany | 7 - 1 | Curaçao
2026 FIFA World Cup - Group Stage
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